Friday, October 21, 2016

Chan
and Knoxville Play Unlikely Buddies in Poor Man's Version of Rush
Hour

Jackie
Chan made dozens of martial arts movies in his native Hong Kong prior
to finding phenomenal success stateside in 1998 co-starring with
Chris Tucker in the buddy-comedy Rush Hour. Their pairing as
unlikely-partners proved so popular that they returned to the well to
shoot a couple of sequels in Rush Hour 2 and Rush Hour 3. And Jackie
further milked the familiar formula in outings opposite Owen Wilson
in Shanghai Noon and Shanghai Knights.

Despite
being perhaps a little long-in-the-tooth to still be doing such
stunt-driven adventures, the sixty-something matinee idol is back
with Skiptrace, a slight variation on the theme co-starring Johnny
Knoxville. Knoxville is known for Jackass, the TV and film franchise
in which he and a coterie of deranged confederates perform an array
of death-defying feats.

Here,
he reprises some of his greatest hits, like rolling down the street
in a barrel. The same can be said of Chan, as so many of the
picture's chase and fight sequences have a feeling of deja vu about
them. Nevertheless, a treat is in store for the uninitiated,
especially youngsters who've never seen either of these leads ply his
trade before.

In
Skiptrace, Jackie plays Hong Kong detective Benny Chan, and Johnny
co-stars as Connor Watts, an American gambler on the run from a
Russian casino owner (Charlie Rawes) he fleeced to the tune of a
million dollars. At the point of departure, Benny's partner Yung
(Eric Tsang) is murdered by a mysterious mobster known as The
Matador, and he makes it his mission to bring the creep to justice.

Meanwhile,
half a world away, Johnny just happens to witness the kidnapping of
Yung's daughter Samantha (Bingbing Fan). So, that makes him
invaluable to Benny when the two subsequently cross paths, as much as
the detective dislikes the idea of cooperating with a slippery con
man.

Directed
by Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2), Skiptrace overall is a globe-trotting
affair which unfolds at a dizzying pace in the course of visiting a
variety of ports-of-call all across the planet. The multi-layered
whodunit eventually builds to a big showdown at Kai Tak Cruise
Terminal back in Hong Kong, where the case is very satisfactorily
resolved.

Though
he's certainly no Chris Tucker, Johnny Knoxville does prove a decent
enough accomplice for Jackie Chan's endearing combination of antics
and acrobatics.

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KamWilliams.com

The Sly Fox Film Reviews publishes the content of film critic Kam Williams. Voted Most Outstanding Journalist of the Decade by the Disilgold Soul Literary Review in 2008, Kam Williams is a syndicated film and book critic who writes for 100+ publications around the U.S., Europe, Asia, Africa, Canada and the Caribbean. He is a member of the New York Film Critics Online, the NAACP Image Awards Nominating Committee and Rotten Tomatoes.

In addition to a BA in Black Studies from Cornell, he has an MA in English from Brown, an MBA from The Wharton School, and a JD from Boston University. Kam lives in Princeton, NJ with his wife and son.